Ralph Ellison Race Vs Identity

Racism has played a major role within these writings’. Each author based on their own experience has shed light and giving viewers insight on the treatment towards blacks. These were times were blacks were treated less, looked down upon, or slaves. Throughout these readings each author has individually displays different types of struggles revolving around the issue which was problematic during this area; race.
Race vs Identity Not understanding how to be yourself because of the color of your skin was one problem for the following author. Within his writings’ he displayed a struggle between race and identity. In the literature “invisible man” written by Ralph Ellison, he displays his protagonist to be a black man who is stuck inside of a world …show more content…
In the story “When the Negro Was in Vogue” by Langston Hughes, the author takes us to a period were black weren’t allowed to do certain things, one the other hand, whites could. During this period was a time just like the ones which we seen in movies like the help, where black women were maids who worked for whites. In these movies as well as in this story they both portray how segregated things were. In the movie the black maids couldn’t use the same bathroom their bosses would use because they saw it as non- sanitary. In the book the author mentions how blacks couldn’t go into white clubs unless they were some famous entertainer. However, whites would come into their clubs and push them out of the way. Not only that but they would look at them like they were some kind of animals in a zoo. The author mentions “it was a period when” to introduce certain events which happened during this time period. For example, he states “it was a period (god help us!) when Ethel Barrymore appeared in blackface in scarlet sister Mary! It was the period when the negro was in vogue(Hughes).” All of these event which was a “period when” offended the black race as a whole or either help whites profit off of what blacks were doing. Such as, when whites wrote about blacks their work was very successful. On the other hand, when black wrote about …show more content…
However, things changed from being a slave with no freedom to being able to go to a black club. Meanwhile, it didn’t change the way black were treated. These writings have portrayed race to be the issue and the problem within each struggle found inside of these writing’s. Based on these writing compare with the ones now you will see how time have truly changed some for the